DP-G Oil

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I've been using Castrol Syntrax 75w140 API GL-5 for the past 3 years without issue, I buy in 20l drums.

While Googling where to get my next 20l drum, I came across the above link for 'MaxPower' oil, same spec.

Seems a bit too cheap to be good / true?

-Edit- Yes, i'm aware of the fan-doozly additives that Volvo use in their out-drive oil for water ingress. I'm not concerned about that. (Never had water in the oil, although have replaced prop-shaft seals in the past)
 
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I am also soon to be changing the leg oil and have considered alternatives but presently thinking the VP oil , although very expensive, is the cautious approach.
I have not used any other leg oil over the last 10 years with 290dpe legs (not all with the same boat) and have not had any mechanical issues .

I do use alternative engine oil and fuel/oil filters and anodes and recently bought a pair of air filters for under £7 the pair compared to £48 for the same thing in a VP box. However some items such as mpellers and belts for the engine and bellows and oil for the outdrive it is perhaps false economy.

It would be interesting to hear from the experts on this one.
 
I take your point on impellers / bellows - I go Genuine on those as it has been proved the spurious parts can be inferior.
 
When I had DPG,s attached to KAD 300,s we used the VP oil for the leg .
I was under the impression rightly or wrongly that it contained some sort of water absorption thingy bob compound.
Not saying you can dilute it 10 % or any thing , but I thought there’s was something in it -to mitigate gears / bearings from a weepy seal ?
That’s was the difference to ordinary gear oil .

As far as other parts we used to do the service in a VP approved yard so there shop stocked genuine parts .
The only variable seemingly “ allowed “ was the engine oil .
But most engine manufacturers allow or spec up oil ,as it’s on there approved list , it does not have to come in blues container .
Touch wood 9 years of uneventful use , but I guess I paid for that .
Eg @ bellows it’s was not just a case of loosen off a few bits and man handle / squeeze on another set - Nope
Whole leg would come off ,be wheeled into the engine she’d and literally be stripped and vernier gauged to check tolerances —- now and again the odd small part €80-200 each replaced .
Same guy called Frank did it every time btw .Thats all he does —- legs
3 days - on and off between multitasking other stuff .
Remove strip
Measure replace reseal
Refit

Once some milky oil came out —- he just found the leak and fixed it and carried on as above ,

There was another time ,they replaced somthing on one and when it was put back in Frank and another spannerman went for a joy ride Somthing to do with gear selection ?
Came back announcing it was OK , but could I bring it back in 2 days for an inspection .
Sure enough come the morning I got a txt from them - remember your inspection ,
Off we toddled ( only a few miles away ) they put it in the slings ,lifted it out and frank put a long screwdriver up some hole or other to check somthing up — that was it , put it back in — no extra charge part of the service / bill etc .
Sorry no idea what that was about , bills in French , there was a small parts addition .

I can,t remember for sure what I was paying at the time a few 1000 € every two years for the bellows as described and obviously less for just anodes / oil change ,
I think one year I toted up and spent €5 k - that included some cooler strip down / clean .
Water pumps were rebuilt — known weakness the shaft seal goes .
Elbow s corroded , risers went . Tappets every 200 hrs , belt tensioners , rubber oil pipe split once in the marina - messy but not too expensive to fix ,
Tbo as they aged I was glad to move away to a shaft boat .
Routine running Maintenance bills thus far are about a 1/3 rd
 
It's funny when I read such posts as yours, and I think "Wow, i'm lucky, never had to do that much" - but when I look back on my service log, there are infact bits here and there that you carry out and then forget about (hence written service log).

One major advantage I have is that the boat has been run in fresh water only since new, so not half as many problems as salt water runners.

That said, I did have a tensioner seize on me last year, that was fun! Replaced all 4 while I was at it.

This year i'll be going with genuine belts for the KAD. I have been using Gates belts for the past 2 years and after a few hours use, the circulation belt squeels like a motherfcuker when the supercharger kicks in (never had that with genuine).

Touch wood i've never had any water pump issues, BUT, i've rebuilt quite a few for friends in the local club.
 
This comment that Volvo leg oil has some special additive is an interesting one. I would expect, if that was the case, that Volvo would have given their oil some kind of special 'Volvo' rating, like they do with their engine oil and the VDS spec. The fact that their gear oil is simply GL5 75/90 or whatever it says on it, says to me that there is nothing special about it at all. On that basis I have been happily using any oil that meets the same spec for the last 15 years.
 
CLB said:
This comment that Volvo leg oil has some special additive is an interesting one. I would expect, if that was the case, that Volvo would have given their oil some kind of special 'Volvo' rating, like they do with their engine oil and the VDS spec. The fact that their gear oil is simply GL5 75/90 or whatever it says on it, says to me that there is nothing special about it at all. On that basis I have been happily using any oil that meets the same spec for the last 15 years.
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Same here for the last ten years. We always make sure the oil is the correct spec, 75W90 GL-5 in our case for the DPE, but have never paid for VP oil or more to the point oil that VP brand as their own and then add a large percentage to the RRP!

We have a big problem with discarded fishing line where we are based and it is very rare that we don't have line through the oil seals and water contamination by the end of the year.
 
alt said:
It's funny when I read such posts as yours, and I think "Wow, i'm lucky, never had to do that much" - but when I look back on my service log, there are infact bits here and there that you carry out and then forget about (hence written service log).

One major advantage I have is that the boat has been run in fresh water only since new, so not half as many problems as salt water runners.

That said, I did have a tensioner seize on me last year, that was fun! Replaced all 4 while I was at it.

This year i'll be going with genuine belts for the KAD. I have been using Gates belts for the past 2 years and after a few hours use, the circulation belt squeels like a motherfcuker when the supercharger kicks in (never had that with genuine).

Touch wood i've never had any water pump issues, BUT, i've rebuilt quite a few for friends in the local club.
Click to expand...

We switched back to VP belts a couple of years back after we had a Gates belt fail in spectacular style!!
 
CLB said:
This comment that Volvo leg oil has some special additive is an interesting one. I would expect, if that was the case, that Volvo would have given their oil some kind of special 'Volvo' rating, like they do with their engine oil and the VDS spec. The fact that their gear oil is simply GL5 75/90 or whatever it says on it, says to me that there is nothing special about it at all. On that basis I have been happily using any oil that meets the same spec for the last 15 years.
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Perhaps ask at a VP dealer and they will explain what the difference is before assuming
 
Boat2016 said:
Perhaps ask at a VP dealer and they will explain what the difference is before assuming
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Really? The one person I don't think would give me the right answer would be the person selling the overpriced branded stuff, even if they really did know any more than you or me, which I very much doubt. I have no problem with you, or anyone else, believing that VP gear oil is special, but I'm afraid that I don't and I won't be paying twice as much for the label on the container.
 
Portofino said:
Go to “oil and lubricants “ then to “transmission”

I see the word “ unique “ next to the bit about additives and water ingress

http://www.volvopenta.com/marineleisure/en-en/for-owners/parts/maintenance-parts.html


Remember they’ve gone large into gangly bits with IPS .
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So why no special specification? It would be in their interest, as it would make people like me have to buy their oil. I note they also claim that their belts use unique rubber. That would mean that somewhere there is a facility producing only Volvo Penta belts. I think there is lots of smoke and mirrors here.
 
CLB said:
Really? The one person I don't think would give me the right answer would be the person selling the overpriced branded stuff, even if they really did know any more than you or me, which I very much doubt. I have no problem with you, or anyone else, believing that VP gear oil is special, but I'm afraid that I don't and I won't be paying twice as much for the label on the container.
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I’m sure your knowledge of this is far better than that of those who make the product, I would believe the manufacturer over someone who posts what he thinks he knows on a forum.
 
CLB said:
So why no special specification? It would be in their interest, as it would make people like me have to buy their oil. I note they also claim that their belts use unique rubber. That would mean that somewhere there is a facility producing only Volvo Penta belts. I think there is lots of smoke and mirrors here.
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It’s been said on here many times that the genuine belts last longer than the pattern ones, someone doesn’t just produce VP belts they would make belts for many engine manufacturers, but they are made to a spec which is likely unique to VP. The proof here lies in the comments on here.
 
Boat2016 said:
I’m sure your knowledge of this is far better than that of those who make the product, I would believe the manufacturer over someone who posts what he thinks he knows on a forum.
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That comment does make yiu sound rather naive. If you ask your dealer, you are not asking those that make the product, you are asking those that sell it and have been fed the party line. Of course Volvo are going to say their oil is special, how else can they justify the extra cost. You haven't answered the question about specification by the way. Are you involved with Volvo in any way?

On the subject of belts, there are pattern belts, and pattern belts. There are also belts made by the people who make them for Volvo and sell them under their own brand name. Of course really cheap ones may not be as good as OEM, but there will be belts out there as good or, heaven forbid, even better, than Volvo branded ones.

Anyway, I don't need to argue this point with you. You carry on buying whatever you like. It makes no difference to me.
 
CLB said:
That comment does make yiu sound rather naive. If you ask your dealer, you are not asking those that make the product, you are asking those that sell it and have been fed the party line. Of course Volvo are going to say their oil is special, how else can they justify the extra cost. You haven't answered the question about specification by the way. Are you involved with Volvo in any way?

On the subject of belts, there are pattern belts, and pattern belts. There are also belts made by the people who make them for Volvo and sell them under their own brand name. Of course really cheap ones may not be as good as OEM, but there will be belts out there as good or, heaven forbid, even better, than Volvo branded ones.

Anyway, I don't need to argue this point with you. You carry on buying whatever you like. It makes no difference to me.
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No I’m not involved with Volvo in any way other than a customer, what about you ? I suppose you are a seller of cheap aftermarket parts ? I think you’re the one who is naive as you seem to have made your mind up on what’s what without proper research and are only believing what you think is right rather than the truth, you carry on doing that if that’s what you want but perhaps it might help if you research the facts before telling others they are wrong.
Your boat, your money, I’m not going to loose any sleep over it.
 
You have no idea of how much research I have or have not done and you have no way of knowing what is the 'truth' any more than I have. Anyway, I'll leave you with this, and wonder what made you change your tune.

Boat2016 said:
Volvo are like Apple, everyone moans at their prices but continues to buy their products, who's the mug? I'm sure there must be alternatives?
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:confused:
 
CLB said:
You have no idea of how much research I have or have not done and you have no way of knowing what is the 'truth' any more than I have. Anyway, I'll leave you with this, and wonder what made you change your tune.

:confused:
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Yes, that was my point, you all moan about the price but people continue to use VP engines, perhaps try a yanmar or Mercruiser, but I’m not the one complaining about the prices, I’m happy to look after what I have with the correct products. I have a friend who had a very expensive outdrive rebuild due to poor maintenance, I don’t want to have a bill like he did.
So no need to be confused my friend:)
 
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